Monday, December 29, 2008

Week 4

Hello Everybody!

Ecua-facts-

1. I was really confused as to why so many men were getting nose jobs...not women. Turns out they have to because of all the bar fights they get into.2. On New Years they burn dolls.3. On New Years the men dress as women. Weird.4. Only really, super weathy people have carpet5. The stake center is about one third the size of ours in Utah.6. Its guava season, completely different here. White and cottony and you suck it off big black seeds.7. The bus costs .25 cents to ride. That is the most in all of Ecuador.8. My hair cut cost 5.00, cheapest ever. I also was completely ripped off.9. They do have Malls, but they are pretty insignificant compared to ours in the States. However, they are only frequented by the wealthy.10. Canned peaches are a desert. They love them down here. That was our Christmas desert.

I hope you all had a Merry Christmas! My Ecua-Christmas was pretty dang great! Always fun to talk to my family and friends! We spent our Christmas with Digna (a member here) She even made turkey, which they don´t eat here ever. Then we had a nice ecua-salad consisting of cauliflower, peas, carrots, and potatoes covered in mayo. It was one of the better ones I’ve had.

For Christmas we wanted to do something, there are so many poor people here! So my companions and I decided to buy a bunch of happy meals and give them away to some of the homeless kids on the streets. McDonald’s wouldn’t sell us the happy meals, so we decided to go to Burger King and get Magic Boxes for them instead. Besides they came with a crown. It was really pretty sad. Some of those kids shine shoes on the streets for money. They were pretty dejected looking. We really do have so much in United States.

I’m now in a threesome, for the rest of the change (transfer). Sister Larsen is my new trainer. We are 3 of six gringas in the whole mission and come June, I might just be the only one left. She is tons of fun and a good worker. So far this threesome is awesome! Not at all like my MTC experience in a threesome…good.

My Spanish is coming along...slowly, but the members tell me that I’m doing okay and I understand a lot. I have to give a talk next Sunday, so I guess I’ll see then. Yikes.

I did take a nasty trip (twice) on the escalator, they don’t always work properly, and now I’m a little bruised. Darn my craving for American ice cream on Christmas! I’ve had to wear flip flops a couple of days because my foot is too swollen for my shoes! That´s really weird, going without my nylons!

The work has been a little slow here lately. Hopefully it will pick up again after New Years!